Every day I await “The Wrestling Playlist” with bated breath, eagerly anticipating the lost lore that will be uncovered within. The project is a curated history of televised pro wrestling, compiling the very best and most notable matches from around the globe in chronological order. If you’re clever enough, you can find all the matches listed and, buddy, it is worth the effort. It’s a master class in wrestling history and my favorite internet wrestling discovery since the old green message board or the Bowdren List.
What would possess someone to spend this much time documenting wrestling history?
A combination of insanity and love, though that’s not exactly how the project’s mastermind described what he was up to in an introductory post:
Over time, I became obsessed with wrestling footage. My first foray came in the summer of 1997, when I gained access to a computer and saw John McAdam’s old webpage. It absolutely blew my mind and I was obsessed with the listings. I had no idea most of this stuff had ever happened, much less that someone had recorded it and that it was possible to watch it. What intrigued me about McAdam’s list was not just that he had so much stuff, but that his list was thoughtfully curated -- he had clearly tossed some stuff he deemed as not worthy of keeping overboard and tried to focus on things that were notable for whatever reason. This has influenced how I track wrestling now.
…When I say “all of the matches”, I refer to my ultimate goal, which is to capture every competitive match and every squash involving big stars that exists as footage on my Drive, so that someone could conceivably follow the history of wrestling in the proper order. I’ve already amassed way more footage than I could ever hope to watch in a lifetime and I can’t imagine ever sitting and watching all of this straight through as much as I can seeking constant pursuit of the perfect playlist, but if someone wants to make the long trek, wow do they ever have my full support! Share your viewing story with me and I’ll share with other readers!
Right now, the list is finishing up the year 1982. Hopefully I’ll survive to see it to its completion.
For me, this style of wrestling is very comfortable—it’s what the sport looked like when I was a kid. The focus was on logical, coherent, in-ring storytelling and rock solid fundamentals. There are clever and really smart spots in these matches, for sure, but the pacing is very different than the contemporary bouts you may be used to. A lot of the match will be spent on the mat, working holds, reversals and submissions. It requires a degree of patience to go back and watch this stuff—but that investment of time is generally rewarded when something from earlier in the match comes back to haunt one of the wrestlers at the end.
In some ways (athleticism, insane highspots, fewer crimes and deaths) wrestling has improved dramatically since the dawn of the modern era. In others (how wrestlers interact with their opponents and the audience or perform basic tasks in the ring), the art has declined to the point it’s almost become something else entirely.
During my yesterdays, the melodrama and action were built around a simulated sport. Yes, it was often ridiculous. But these were men pretending to be competitors in a professional wrestling league. That was the underlying story tying everything together, and it helped keep the show on the road six days a week.
Today, wrestling is a cooperative dance, one in which many performers do nothing to hide that their “opponent” is really their partner-in-crime. This leads to some stunning displays. But it also prevents many fans from ever truly losing themselves in the fictional world, shifting the focus to how the magic happens rather than allowing people to simply enjoy the show. There are no old ladies clobbering wrestlers with handbags today. And that’s a shame.
When you reach a certain age, unfortunately, everything eventually devolves into a “back in my day” screed. This isn’t a diatribe against modern pro wrestling, or at least wasn’t meant to be one. It’s an explanation for why the Playlist is scratching an itch that the stuff on Wednesdays and Fridays often can’t.
Everyday for the last couple of weeks I’ve been selecting something from the day’s list that looks interesting and cutting it down to a highlight package. These aren’t intended to exclusively be the BEST MATCHES EVER and I’m not just going to regurgitate the same clips of Andre the Giant and Stan Hansen every couple of weeks for engagement. These are things that struck me as interesting or matches I hadn’t seen before.
It’s been a ton of fun.
I’ve also been sharing these clips on Twitter. But, if you haven’t noticed, Twitter is the worst place on Earth. It’s a place where the discourse is led by the most impossibly ignorant and “thought leaders” mostly regurgitate talking points from decades past, fighting an endless war on behalf of their promotions of choice. If you zoom out a little, it’s a space that explicitly rewards attention seekers who intentionally dumb things down, financially compensating people for poking the collective bear long enough and hard enough to get a response. And, frankly, I don’t want to be complicit in the nonsense there by contributing content for free.
So, TLDR, I’m moving that daily upload here. I don’t intend on sending out an email message every time I post a match and won’t clog your inbox. But you’ll be able to find the highlight videos and matches on this site for your viewing pleasure.
Today’s video features my all-time favorite, Terry Funk teaming with his brother Dory against Jay Youngblood and Ricky Steamboat.
When I was a kid, Steamboat and Youngblood were the hot young tag team in the Carolinas where I mostly grew up. The two had already won tag gold and would really hit their stride the next year when they’d feud with Sergeant Slaughter and Don Kernoodle and take home the Wrestling Observer Award for “Best Tag Team.”
But they had bitten off all they could chew in the Funks, in Japan especially. Not only were the two brothers a formidable team, they were both former World champions back when that still meant something. The match was part of the Real World Tag League in All Japan Pro Wrestling and (40 year old spoiler alert) the Funks won that year for the third time in six years.
Youngblood was actually a Mexican-American and the son of Ricky Romero. As a young wrestler, Terry Funk found himself under Ricky’s wing. One of the first wrestlers to desegregate Texas wrestling, Romero was a beloved babyface who was lovingly called “Super Mex” in the Amarillo Territory run by the Funk’s father Dory Senior.
“My father was a great teacher to me, but I was also fortunate to be around some of the guys we had in Amarillo,” Funk wrote in his book More Than Just Hardcore. “One I learned a lot from was Ricky Romero. I made a lot of trips with him, and he was as good a Mexican wrestler as there was in the United States in the 1960s.”
It must have been a thrill for Terry, 17 years after his debut, to share some of what he’d learned from the Mexican master with his mentor’s son.
The complete match can be found here.
The Wrestling Playlist Now on Substack